At the end of the interview, Carlton Pearson stood upand gave himself away.

Throughout the conversation, Pearson gleamed, lookingimmaculate as ever — trimmed hair, silk paisley tie, aglittering ruby ring and a shirt so crisp you could strikea match on it. He looked every bit the well-to-do,business-like bishop of the multi-racial multitude atTulsa's charismatic Higher Dimensions Family Church. Aswe chatted on our way out of the church office, though, Icouldn't help but notice his worn, faded Levis andweather-beaten cowboy boots.

"Well, I didn't know if you were going to take picturestoday or not, so I put on a tie," Pearson said, smiling bigand broadly. Pretty and professional on top, earthy androoted down below — that's Carlton Pearson.

It's this personal philosophy of staying rooted that haspropelled Pearson into the top rank of his church and intothe top slots of the gospel charts. Aside from leading oneof this city's largest congregations, Pearson recordshighly successful gospel records with his church's crackband and choir. The latest, "Live at Azusa 3," is anotherhuge hit.

The boundary between Pearson the preacher and Pearsonthe entertainer is barely traceable, though. The "Live atAzusa" records are simply recordings of Pearson in action athis annual Azusa religious conference in Tulsa. He preachesa little, he sings a little, and he shares the stage withother gospel stars — such as Fred Hammond and Marvin Winanson the current album.

"This is just church. It's what we do every Sundaymorning," Pearson said. "I wanted to capitalize on it, andshare it. When I started playing with recording things,people were writing songs for me and trying to mold me asthey would any other gospel singer. But I said, 'Let mejust do what I do. Let me tell stories and sing songs.' Andit has touched people."

Pearson's albums are reaching the audience at which theyare aimed. Pearson unabashedly calls them "old folks." Thesubtitle of "Live at Azusa 3" is "Reminding the Saints of theHope," and Pearson said this album in particular wastailored for the older members of the flock.

"I'm trying to do what that title says: remind them thatthe hope is still alive," Pearson said. "The world ischanging so fast — without their permission. These people,like the Bible, have come out of Egypt, but Egypt has notcome out of them."

"Live at Azusa 3" features Pearson and the immenselytalented Higher Dimensions band and choir, directed byDavid Smith. While radical gospel stars like Hammond andKirk Franklin have juiced-up the genre with hip-hop beatsand loud sounds, Pearson's album captures a similar feelingof excitement — but by using old, traditional black hymns.No funky new stuff for Pearson, much to the dismay of histwo children.

"I try to play my stuff for my kids, and they say, `No,Daddy, play something cool!' They want (Franklin's)'Revolution' or anything Hammond does. I have pictures ofyoung people jumping up and down at my shows, so it'sreaching them . . . but these songs are meant for thesaints," Pearson said. "These old songs aren't writtenhorizontally; they're written vertically. The new songs areevangelistic, taking a message to the people from God.These old songs are singing directly to God. They're churchsongs.

"These old songs are the ones that really seemed to touchpeople the most, and they helped tear down those racialdivisions that often separate us," Pearson said earlier."They also remind us of the hope. I felt those old songsgave us a sense of stability and a sense of security andsafe-keeping, because that's what kept us through the JimCrow lines, civil rights riots and the assassinations ofDr. King and President Kennedy in the '60s."

Crossing racial lines has always been the driving forcebehind Pearson's ministry. He's full of stories aboutpeople of all colors and creeds who have found inspirationthrough the songs he performs — the South African man whoexplained how popular Pearson's videos and music were there("You sing old hymns that carried the church here," the mantold Pearson) and the Muslim woman who attends HigherDimensions because of her attraction to the message of aheavenly relationship.

Pearson's music and ministry began at the same time,when as an eighth-grader in San Diego he was captivated bya performance of the visiting Oral Roberts World ActionSingers. The group was recruiting students, and Pearson'smother said, "When you go to college, that's where I wantyou to go." Lacking the funds to pay for college, Pearsonshut himself in his room for a week, emerging only toshower. During that time, he prayed to God to find a way toattend Oral Roberts University. At the end of the week, afamily friend called and offered to pay not only thecollege tuition but a monthly allowance as well. In 1971,he enrolled at ORU.

Soon he became a member of the World Action Singers witha full scholarship. By 1975, Pearson was hitting the roadas an evangelist under the tutelage of Roberts himself. In1981, he founded the Higher Dimensions Evangelistic Centerat a service of 75 people. The center's first building wasa storefront in Jenks — which at the time still had a 6 p.m.curfew for blacks on the lawbooks. Within a year, thecongregation neared 1,000 people of every race and color.Today, the church stands in a large building near 86thStreet and Memorial Drive, along with an adoption agency, ahome for unwed mothers, a preschool and a food pantry forthe needy.

"I never wanted to be known as the singing evangelist,"Pearson said of his beginnings. "I wanted to be anevangelist who also sang." That's how he sounds on "Liveat Azusa 3." He introduces songs sung by such gospelluminaries as Beverly Crawford, James Morton and JoshuaNelson. He talks a little bit, giving brief homilies withtitles like "I Love Old Folks" and "Remind the Saints of theHope." These are often elongated introductions to othersongs, "I Know the Lord Will Make a Way Somehow," "Near theCross," and so on.

"These old songs — people just don't want to let go ofthem," Pearson said. "For some reason people just want tohold onto a good ol' piece of fried chicken, even thoughthey're out there every day eating sushi . . . I mean, whenI win an award for these albums, people aren't out thereclapping for me. They're clapping for their grandmas andgrandpas and all those saints that came before them and whowere kept going by these songs. And they're still going, sowe might as well keep these songs going, too."

These online "clips" reproduce a self-selection of my journalism (music etc) during the last 20+ years. It's a lotta stuff, but it only scratches the surface. I do not currently possess the time or resources to digitize the whole body of work. These posts are simply a bunch of pretty great days at the office.